


Dana Parum (part 1)

by Picfxr



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 06:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3240056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Picfxr/pseuds/Picfxr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the many stories floating in my head...this is the beginning of a series on a young girl's realization that the world isn't the same as she thought it was...and neither is she.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dana Parum (part 1)

Dana was a perfectly average, ordinary 14 year old girl. Her grades were good most of the time. She sometimes did well in sports. Sometimes she was lead flautist, but usually she was second chair. She’d never been popular but she wasn’t UN-popular. Dana just went through her days pretty much happy with her life. It wasn’t exciting but she always had stuff to do and people to hang with in her small hometown. Podunk USA was just your average, everyday American town with your average, everyday people…just like it’s name suggested.  
Dana supposed her parents had interesting lives. Her dad was an Air Force Big-Wig and her mom worked for the UN but she didn’t really know anything about their work, other than that they always had lots of it and loads of traveling they had to do. Dana spent a lot of her time with family friends. It was ok, though, because she always had fun at her friends’ houses.  
Her parents were pretty cool. They always took time for her when she needed them. They let her try out any activity she wanted. Dana had played soccer, hockey, lacrosse, volleyball and softball. She’s danced ballet, jazz, modern and tap…though mom had nixed her desire to learn belly dancing a la Shakira until she was 16…2 more years! She’d learned to plays loads of instruments from guitar to piano, flute and even tin whistles. Dana had also been learning several different martial arts. She really hadn’t been interested in them at first but her father had insisted and she was actually pretty good at them. After a few years, she’d become addicted to the activity and the training disciplines. But she was even better at languages. It was nothing for Dana to pick up a few words in any language du jour (that’s French for “of the day”) I guess that made her a little more than every day, average…. But she really was pretty normal. At least she thought so.  
Since it was the week before Halloween, Dana was staying with her friend Elly’s family. This was an every year thing and Elly and Dana had grown up together. Dana’s parent’s, Patience and Peter, were almost always overseas by the first week of October and rarely made it back before Christmas Day. They were always home for Christmas Day, though, like clockwork. Her mom believed family should always spend Christmas together, no matter what. They usually tried to make Thanksgiving, too, but it didn’t always happen.  
Dana loved the holidays with Elly. They were the best part of her year. Elly (who was actually named Noelle) and her parents, Faith & Jesus Goldblum, celebrated what they called a “non-partisan holiday” that combined all the best bits of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Yule. It was a whole mess of cultural fun that made her stay like a visit to Disneyland. There was always something going on at Elly’s house and plenty of awesome home-cooked food.  
Today, as a matter of fact, Elly’s father had gone to the pumpkin patch to get their annual haul of orangey magnificence. Tonight was The Great Carve Off, where Dana, Elly and about 10 other people would do their best to out carve each other and make the Pumpkin of Perfection. The winner got to choose what dessert Elly’s mom would make for Christmas Dinner. This was No Small Thing. Elly’s mom was a world class pastry chef and her desserts were battled over by Leaders of Countries everywhere…no lie…if they knew, they’d have wars to get a bite. OK, so maybe there was some exaggeration there, but only because most people didn’t get to eat her desserts. If they had, they’d be all over it.  
Dana had planned her pumpkin strategy to a fare thee well! She was going to win this year if it killed her! She was just DYING for a Goldblum Cheese Flan. If Elly won, it would be Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake…which was awesome, too, but the cheese flan was her favorite. Everyone else either went with the cannelloni, the pumpkin or the pecan pie. All were good, so there was no real losing. It was just the point of the whole thing. She could always get Mrs. Goldblum to make the Cheese Flan for her birthday but she wanted to ask for Strawberry Shortcake a la Goldblum this year so…game on!  
Dana took one last glance at her template before folding it carefully into her book (the latest Fablehaven by Brandon Mull) and heading for the stairs down to the living room. She wanted to make sure her pumpkin carving kit was ready, sharp and organized! She took the stairs two at a time at what Elly’s mom called “spruce deuce” and her dad called “tripping the light fantastic”…whatever that meant!

“Dana! For the love of pumpkins! You’re gonna KILL yourself one of these days!” yelled Mrs. Goldblum.

Dana hopped the final three steps and landed crouched, with her arms out for balance before standing and hollering back, “Sorry!”. 

“Don’t be ‘sorry’. ..Just be SAFE!” said Mrs. Goldblum, her daughter and 4 of the 5 cousins together. The 5th cousin would have said it too but his mouth was full of Goldblum snicker brownies. 

“You’ve gotta get a new one, Mrs. G. Everyone knows that one!”, said Dana as she walked into the kitchen to see Mrs. Goldblum pulling out hot, gooey Rolo Cookies from the oven.

“That’s the point, Dana! You’re supposed to know it and do it!”, sighed Mrs. G.  
“OK, Mrs. G. Can I have a cookie?” Dana humbly answered looking down at the floor with her best ‘I done messed up an’ I’m sorry face’. 

“Nice try. You need to work on the voice though. You didn’t sound truly repentant.” chuckled Mrs. G as she passed an almost too hot to eat cookie to Dana with the spatula.  
“Darn! I’ll work on that!” Dana grinned as she bounced the cookie on her steepled fingers while blowing on it.  
“I’m sure you will.” Mrs. G grumbled under breath, just loud enough to be heard.  
Dana grinned and went to check on her pumpkin carving kit on the far counter. Everything was in order. Wait. Where was her grapefruit spork? “Elly! Did you take my spork?” Dana shouted.  
Elly walked into the kitchen with a small, smug grin on her face. “Moi?” She drawled, pronouncing it MOW-EE, just to irritate Dana more.  
“Not fair! Mrs. G! Elly’s cheating already!” Dana pronounced.  
“MmmMMMM.” Was all the answer she got from her.  
“Ha!,” barked Elly triumphantly. “No help there! She knows where you got it in the first place! Told you to stay outta Grandma Hettie’s silver!”  
Dana looked guiltily over her left shoulder hunching a bit and squinting her eyes. “Erm.” She mumbled.  
“MmmMMMM!” came emphatically from Mrs. G.  
“Sorry.” Dana mumbled, very shamefacedly.  
“Don’t be sorry, just be SAFE!” shouted the whole house full of Elly’s family except for Mrs. G. who said: “Now THAT sounded sincere!”  
Outside, a horn could be heard playing “Joy to the World”. Elly and 5 of her cousins all ran for the door shouting, “They’re back!” Elly was fast but Luisme, Ngumbo & Moisha were faster and beat her out the door. Seamus and Katrina trailed behind her with Dana crab walking guiltily behind them. “I was careful, Mrs. G. I even polished it nice. I promise I won’t touch the silver again.”  
Mrs. G tried glaring but gave in and smiled, “It’s OK, Dana. Just ASK next time. Alright?”  
“OK, Mrs. G. I promise.” Dana replied and slipped out the door before she had to explain where the other pieces of her kit had come from. She’d figure out how to ‘ask’ later.  
If Dana had anything that she considered better than average, other than her ease of language learning, it was her ability to pick up skills with hands on training. She could be stumped and slowly trudge through with a book, but give her an actual expert and some one on one teaching and she was set. She’d spent the month before coming to the Goldblum’s learning how to carve all kinds of things from a local sculptor at the community center and she was anxious to apply everything she’d learned to her ‘Pumpkin Plan of Action’ ASAP. (That’s military talk for As Soon As Possible).  
Mr. Goldblum was just getting out of his full-size, 4 door, Ford truck with 4 more of Elly’s cousins falling out in a muddle behind him. Sasha, Hector and Franz each had a mid-sized pumpkin in hand while Lyla was unsuccessfully trying to roll a bigger one out of the back seat. “Uncle G? Can you help me?” she asked.  
“Si, querida!” Mr. G called everyone darling. Dana thought he had to considering how big their family was. It was just easier than trying to remember everyone’s names. Actually, he seemed to know anyone and everyone by name but he just never used them. Dana actually liked being called ‘querida’ sometimes. Not in school, though. Or in the mall. Ok, no place really public, like with other non-family kids around to hear.  
Elly and the other cousins were all climbing into the back of the Ford to lay claim to their pumpkins. There was some pretty heated argument from that direction. Cries of “That one’s MINE!” followed “Oh no you didn’t!” and “Puh-LEASE, chico! I saw it first!” Mr. G picked up Lyla’s monster pumpkin and stated calmly: “If there is fighting, ninos, I will take all the pumpkins back. There are enough calabasas for everyone!”  
No one argued. Mr. G always got extras in case of accidents or pop over family showing up at the last minute. There were always extra guests showing up at the Goldblum’s house. Especially over the holidays when Mrs. G. was baking!  
Dana walked over to see what was left. She picked her pumpkin one of two ways; either she went with Mr. G and chose it at the patch, or she waited to see which would be the last pumpkin. She felt that then it was fate. Dana liked to think she made that least wanted pumpkin feel special knowing it was going to be hers because she had waited for it. It was silly, but that’s how she felt. And there it was, a lumpy, misshapen and scarred pumpkin of enormous size and mottled orange color. It had dark and light patches, rough and smooth spots and deep dents. It had knots and burrs in the strangest of places. Dana just stared. It was perfect.  
“Do you like it, Dana?” Mr. G asked.  
“Omigosh, Mr. G! He’s PERFECT!” Dana answered breathily.  
“I knew you’d like him, querida. He just kind of spoke to me and said ‘Take me to hoooome to Danaaaaa’….So I did!” Mr. G laughed softly and patted Dana’s left shoulder. “Here! I’ll take him in for you.” And then he lunged over the truck side to grab the most perfect pumpkin in the world and carried it into the garage with all of the others.  
As Dana followed him she watched Elly and her cousins setting up at their tables or on the floor of the garage, resting their pumpkins on great swaths of old newspapers. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear in anticipation of their carving. Mr. G set her pumpkin on the table nearest the garage door.  
“There you go, querida! Do your best! I’m looking forward to Cheese Flan this year!” Mr. G. patted her shoulder again and went inside to see about getting himself a cookie or two.  
And so it began. Dana began the masterpiece of her life. The Perfect Pumpkin to end all pumpkins! And, unbeknownst to her, she set a whole lot of other things in motion, too.


End file.
